Ezekiel Elliott Being Disrespected by PFF's 2021 Running Back Rankings

The 2020 NFL season wasn't one to remember for the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas struggled to a 6-10 record while missing their franchise quarterback Dak Prescott for much of the year. Ezekiel Elliott also had a down year by his usual standards, failing to eclipse 1,000 rushing yards for the first time since 2017, when injuries limited him to 10 games.

While this Cowboys offense still has loads of talent, they're getting some major disrespect entering the 2021 NFL season. That includes Elliott being seriously underrated in the latest ProFootballFocus 2021 RB rankings.

You'll probably notice from this above Tweet that Elliott doesn't find himself in the top-5 of this ranking. In fact, Elliott doesn't even crack the top-10 and PFF has him coming in at No. 12. This should be seen as a sign of major disrespect for the same running back that has led the NFC in rushing yards in two of his five NFL seasons.

It seems like PFF doesn't factor in everything that went to Elliott having a down year in 2020. The offense completely changed with Prescott's injury and injuries to the offensive line. Instead of relying heavily on the rush attack, the Cowboys had one of the most pass-heavy offenses in the NFL last season with 639 total attempts (No. 2). Not to mention, Elliott recorded a career-low 16.3 rush attempts per game.

If Elliott is given a healthy offensive line and bigger focus in the Cowboys offense, it's likely he'd return to a top-10 NFL running back in terms of overall statistics. Honestly, he may even crack the top-5. With that in mind, this PFF ranking at No. 12 is downright disrespectful.

Entering the 2021 season, FanDuel Sportsbook gives the Cowboys +1300 odds to win the NFC Championship, according to the latest NFL odds.

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Adam Taylor McKillop is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Adam Taylor also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username atmckillop. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.